


Quiet On Set

by Museohmuse



Series: 30 Day Drabble Challenge [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Actor Derek, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Kiss, M/M, my vague and sad attempt at a notting hill-esque fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2014-08-14
Packaged: 2018-02-13 02:59:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2134560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Museohmuse/pseuds/Museohmuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"'My name is Derek,' he said a couple minutes later. 'Not 'Dude.'</p>
<p>'I'm Stiles,' the guy replied, 'not 'Asshole.' Derek shot him a look and Stiles just shrugged. 'I'm sure that's what you've been calling me in your head.'"</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Nothing brings people together more than distinct annoyance, a horrible movie, and meddling siblings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quiet On Set

**Author's Note:**

  * For [writerdragonfly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerdragonfly/gifts).



> This is for my boo Ky, who is sadly not feeling too hot right now. Chin up, and have some Sterek on me!
> 
> This fic is prompted through the 30 Day Drabble Challenge with the word 'prepared' and is also inspired by tumblr user evelynrose's au prompt: "stop talking during the movie I am trying to watch you dickbag"

Derek was not in the habit of going to the movie theaters. When he really thought about it, he would surmise that the last time he had been to the movies might have been in high school. But when one took into consideration his baffling stardom after a pretty impressive list of movies and TV shows, and the resulting horde of obsessed fans who knew his whereabouts before he even did, Derek had to be hyper aware of whatever he planned in public. 

It helped that Derek hailed from the unremarkable town of Beacon Hills, where everyone knew Derek from when he was a scrawny, hairy, overall unfortunate teenager. So he could freely stroll the streets without fear of being assaulted by paparazzi or dangerously determined fans and carry on with his life. And even if he happened upon storefronts that proudly displayed posters of Derek's latest movie, Derek understood it was out of pride for their town producing something worthwhile when their last big break was fifteen years before with a rash of mountain lion attacks that turned out to be backwoods idiots that too their hunt a little too seriously - and weirdly. 

So here he was trying to enjoy a simple comedy flick that his good friend, Boyd, had worked in, and he couldn't even watch the damn thing because of the kid behind him. 

It had started from the beginning with the trailers: at first, when the guy laughed, Derek understood - it was a promotion for a shitty movie that was destined to flop completely in the box office. But then he started talking - and if there was one thing Derek could not tolerate, it was mouthy patrons in public theaters. 

And the guy was just saying everything and anything: disparaging remarks about the actors in the film (which, some of them had become some of Derek's closest friends), incredulous noises over crappy animation or effects, rare murmurs of interest over movies the guy wanted to check out, and uproarious laughter over anything that tickled his fancy (an exhaustive list, Derek concluded). 

Derek was astounded that no one else in the theater tried to shush the guy, but then he realized with a start that they were the only ones in the theatre. In retrospect, Derek noticed that this movie probably shouldn't still be in the theaters, it had come out so long ago, so it really wasn't surprising that the small room was conspicuously empty. 

Derek sighed heavily, realizing the task of shutting this guy up was all on him - there was no reason to call in an employee and have the idiot escorted out. Derek figured that somehow would not work in his favor. He turned in his seat, saw that the guy was just in his line of vision, and pointedly cleared his throat. 

Derek felt confident that because of his hat and sunglasses, he wouldn't be recognized. But the look the guy gave him made Derek feel naked. The guy himself was a sight to behold: his dark hair was sticking all over the place like he had just stuck his hand in a socket, and in the darkness, his pale skin was practically glowing. 

"Dude, what the hell is your excuse?" the guy spluttered. "You've got some special sight problems or something? An embarrassing bald spot that extended to your face? Oh, nope, not possible," the guy derailed, pointing at Derek's forehead, "those eyebrows speak for themselves. And it looks like right now, they're saying, 'kill him.'" 

"They're not too far off the mark," Derek grunted. All he wanted was to tell the guy to shut up, but he somehow got dragged into a one-sided conversation. The movie was just about to start, so Derek just snapped, "Keep your voice down," and turned back around. He didn't miss the snort of derision, but he staunchly kept his attention on the screen, watching the story unfold. 

The guy kept true to his word for about a minute until one poorly written line had him exclaiming, "Why was that even _necessary_ , come _on_!" 

"Really?" And Derek didn't mean to engage verbally, but there he was, turned in his seat once again and scowling at the guy behind him. 

"What?" the guy said in the worst display of innocence Derek had seen since his Uncle Peter tried to convince Derek that getting involved with a shitty supernatural B-movie was going to really help his budding career. (And as Laura ceaselessly reminded him, it was her counter advice that ended up saving him from that disaster.) "Come on, don't tell me you thought that was funny?" 

"I'm not saying you're wrong," Derek said gruffly. "I'm saying that I asked you to keep quiet, and you're not doing that right now."

"Well, neither are you!" 

"What are you, five?" 

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"What the hell - "

A loud bang from the movie cut Derek off, and he noticed Stiles flinching alongside him. With a growl, Derek returned his attention to the screen. It was altogether useless, having lost precious moments of exposition to explain what was happening on-screen. It looked like Boyd's character had just been introduced into the plot, and Derek fought to keep his attention on his friend's performance and not on the incredibly disturbing nuisance behind him. 

Derek heard the chair squeak behind him, and he almost let out a sigh of relief when he realized the asshat was leaving. Then he almost got the shit scared out of him when a dark mass started to climb over the seats, gracelessly tumbling into the seat next to him. 

"Why the - what the hell are you still doing here?" Derek cried, fixing where his sunglasses went askew when he had jumped in his shock. 

"I was getting lonely back there," the guy replied easily, reaching back to grab his popcorn and drink. Derek hated himself for doing it, but his eyes roved along the stretch of the guy's body, his shirt riding up a little to reveal pale skin adorned with dark hair disappearing beneath his pants. 

"I don't remember giving you the signal to come join me," Derek said.

"Why are you by yourself anyway?" the guy suddenly asked, blatantly disregarding Derek's comment. 

Derek grit his teeth, but replied, "You know, it's not unheard of for people to see movies by themselves."

"Yeah, but not people who look like _you_." When Derek raised an eyebrow, the guy huffed and continued, "Come on, even with the hat and sunglasses shit, I can still tell that you could get it. No guy like you should have any problems grabbing a last minute date for a shitty movie." 

"It's not shitty," Derek said immediately. He paused and added, "And maybe I wanted to watch this by myself." 

"Great," the guy snorted. "Here I am, dateless not by choice, but by a crippling and heartless dating pool, and you're here willingly and deliberately alone." He sighed heavily, slumping in his seat and spreading his legs out. Derek told himself repeatedly to avoid glancing at the guy's crotch, despite the clear invitation. "These are the end days." 

"I'll end your days if I don't get to watch this movie," Derek grumbled. 

"Dude, that was so lame," the guy laughed. "Almost as lame as this movie." 

"What do you have against this movie?" Derek said, crossing his arms. Maybe it was weird that he kept defending this less than mediocre movie; maybe if he kept pushing the issue, the other guys would leave. But for some reason, that idea didn't make Derek as excited as it would have ten minutes ago. 

"Do you have eyes? And a brain?" the guy scoffed. "I've seen more contrived things in one minute commercials, let alone ninety minutes of this shit."

"Hey, some people put a lot of time and effort into this shit," Derek retorted. While the life of a TV or movie star seemed glamorous with the red carpet premieres and flashy possessions and being surrounded by beautiful and successful people, the job was almost as thankless as a minimum wage job at a restaurant. It all amounted to pure chance, being in the right place at the right time. And sometimes even those opportunities would turn around to bite you in the butt. But a job was a job was a job, even if it had shitty and predictable writing and subpar talent, something Derek learned the hard way. 

"Not enough to keep me interested, dude," the guy said after a beat, his tone slightly more sober than the more playful air it had before.

Derek tried to watch the movie, but found the fidgeting person beside him more intriguing than the truly terrible film his friend got himself into. "My name is Derek," he said a couple minutes later. "Not 'Dude.'" 

"I'm Stiles," the guy replied, "not 'Asshole.'" Derek shot him a look and Stiles just shrugged. "I'm sure that's what you've been calling me in your head." 

"How presumptuous of you to assume that I've been thinking about you," Derek replied. Derek knew it as soon as the words went out of his mouth: he was approaching dangerous waters. Flirting was never one of Derek's strong points, even after the graciously transformative puberty and fame. Usually he just got his agent, Deaton, to get him what he wanted, and otherwise kept his mouth shut. Romance had taken the back seat, especially after the debacle with his old co-star Kate and a pathetic list of one-night stands. 

But there was something about Stiles that Derek couldn't let go of. Derek was sure he had never heard of Stiles before, despite the odd name and the fact that Derek had lived in Beacon Hills his whole life and could probably list the inhabitants of the small town off the top of his head. 

"Presumptuous? Doubtful. Hopeful? Definitely," Stiles said with a smirk before digging his hand into his popcorn and literally stuffing his face. 

"Didn't your mother teach you better table manners?" Derek sniffed, giving Stiles' remarkably full cheeks a look. 

Stiles swallowed suddenly, choking briefly before he took a large sip of his drink. "Well, uh," he said moments later. "She definitely tried. Guess it didn't stick." Stiles' voice had an odd quality to it, one that made Derek anxious, so he dropped the subject. 

They both returned to the movie, Derek completely lost; he swore that at the beginning of the movie, there was some kind of medical emergency that the lead was trying to solve - but now that same character was with a group of men singing to a bed-ridden Boyd that he had a terminal disease.

"How did we even get here?" Stiles asked, voicing Derek's confusion exactly.

"Maybe we're experience a trip from one of the patients on morphine," Derek suggested.

"See, that's a smart and entertaining idea that these writers never would have thought of," Stiles remarked. "You should think about going into showbiz." 

Derek couldn't help the snort he let out at the ironic statement. "I'll let some other poor bastard take that job," he said. 

"Suit yourself," Stiles said, focusing back on the movie. 

Derek let himself glance at Stiles and take in his profile: dozens of moles littered his face in an erratic pattern, and a cute nose hovered over full lips made only plumper by Stiles gnawing at it. His hands, ceaseless in their movement, were big, with long, thin, distractingly nimble fingers. 

"Why are you here alone?" Derek heard himself ask. 

"Dude, we already covered this," Stiles replied without looking at him. "I'm celebrating my sad, single life with a sad, shitty movie." 

Derek found it very hard to believe that Stiles couldn't, like he accused of Derek, find someone to take as a date at the last minute. If it were up to Derek, he would have chosen Stiles without question. 

"So are you ever going to take off the hat and sunglasses and join the real world or...?" Stiles asked. 

Derek weighed the pros and cons of taking off his disguise: pros - he could actually see better without them on; he would look more like an approachable human being and less like some weirdo douchebag; and like Derek didn't recognize Stiles, Stiles may not even know who Derek was. Cons: Stiles might know who he was and respond poorly; Derek would have horrible hat hair; and he might have to part with them if Stiles asked for personal items in lieu of an autograph (which happens more than Derek is totally comfortable with). 

Derek carefully took his sunglasses off and his hat followed, his fingers running through his hair anxiously to fix any stray hairs. " _Oh_ ," Stiles breathed. "That totally explains everything." 

"Wait," Derek said. "What?" 

"Cora is a creep, you know that?" Stiles continued. 

Wait, _what_?

"You know my - how is it - why do you - " Derek couldn't get a complete sentence out. "Just what the _hell_ is going on here?"

Stiles looked like he was on the receiving end of a poor joke. "I was trying to sneak into a movie but got caught by your sister. I made a deal with her that instead of getting thrown out or sent to her manager, I had to sit through this crap." Stiles crossed his arms, slumping in his seat again. "She knew exactly what she was doing, that conniving" -

"Watch what you say about my sister," Derek said with a significant lack of heat. In fact, he was pretty much on Stiles' side; Cora had given Derek his ticket (and despite the fact that Derek was rewarded with one free ticket a week, Cora still tried to make him pay full price), had known he was watching this movie. It was a damn trap, but Derek wasn't sure of the objective behind it. 

"She could have at least put me in a theater with a better movie," Stiles grumbled, eyeing the screen mutinously. 

"Hey, my friend is in this movie," Derek said, though he wasn't completely sure why Stiles needed to know that. 

"Well, your friend is rich and famous, so what's one bad movie and a million people side-eying him?" Stiles retorted. 

There were about ten things Derek could have said, but what came out of his mouth was, "A million seems pretty generous to me." 

Stiles cracked a smile, nodding in agreement. "Too right," was all he said. They fell into silence, not even really watching the movie so much as avoiding each other's gaze. It seemed that whenever Derek wasn't glancing at Stiles, he could feel the heat of Stiles' gaze on his profile. 

"I liked what you did in _Forget Me Not_ ," Stiles said abruptly, toying with the straw of his drink. 

"I - thanks," Derek replied, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. _Forget Me Not_ was one of his earliest works, back when he had fully committed to his passion for acting. He really enjoyed working with the director, Satomi, and had learned many valuable lessons and tips that essentially kept his head over water for the rest of his career. 

"Yeah, that performance was only second best to _The Glass Menagerie_ ," Stiles said quietly, his cheeks tinged with pink. 

"Holy shit, you saw that?" Stiles nodded, still avoiding Derek's gaze. "That was, what, my junior year?" he continued mostly to himself. "Man, I didn't even know we went to the same high school." 

"Everyone went to the same high school," Stiles snorted. "But I'm not surprised to hear that - I wasn't anything back then." He paused, letting out a huff of breath before he continued, "Not really much of anything now." 

"I beg to differ," Derek blurted out. Stiles shot him a look, his lips curled up in a cautious smile. 

"If only you could have vouched for me in high school," he sighed dramatically. "Cora was all I had, and she was a cruel mistress." 

"How did I not know about you and Cora?" Derek asked. 

"Well, it's not like you're in town all that often," Stiles said. "Although to be fair, you probably wouldn't have noticed me if I'd been around." 

"That's not true," Derek said, the words coming out faster than he could anticipate them. But he didn't regret them - Stiles was self-deprecating as anything, but he taken hold of Derek's attention, and he had no complaints about it. 

Stiles eyed Derek curiously, like he was trying to see what was going on in his head. "Are you - okay, I'm just gonna - " was all the warning Derek had before Stiles' lips were over his. Derek almost immediately loved the way Stiles' soft lips moved hesitantly over his, and he reached up to grab at the crazy hair that was actually soft to the touch, tilting Stiles' head slightly as he continued to kiss him. 

Stiles himself was weirdly calm, not at all like the overenthusiastic spaz Derek had come to expect. He was sweet in the way he cupped Derek's cheek, rubbing his thumb against the stubble there in hypnotic repetition. When Stiles suddenly bit gently at Derek's bottom lip, he thought he was going to go mad. 

Derek wondered how this night escalated to him making out with a complete stranger who wasn't actually a stranger in Derek's life, but a shadow who had followed Derek every step of the way, apparently waiting for the big reveal. The thought thrilled Derek, making his kisses more urgent and thorough, his tongue insistently brushing against Stiles' lips until he was allowed entrance. 

They finally broke apart for air minutes later, their hands gripping onto hair and clothing in a strange but comfortable entanglement. "So," Stiles breathed, "I guess this is the part where I admit my embarrassingly dedicated crush on you." 

Derek smiled, tugging at Stiles' hair where he hadn't loosened his grip since they'd stopped kissing. "And I guess this is the part where I admit that I'm kind of glad I noticed you." He paused, frowning, before he said, "Also, I probably owe Cora for the rest of my life."

"Join the club," Stiles smirked, pulling Derek in until he could feel the upturned lips against his own. 

Derek figured that if Boyd asked him for his opinion on the film, it would be fair to give it a solid two thumbs up.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos/comments are always appreciated. 
> 
> If you have a need for more teen wolf (or a plethora of other fandoms) on our dash, hit me up as savethestiles!


End file.
